Dow Futures Roar on Retail, COVID-19 Breakthrough

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) are over 900 points above fair value this morning, ready to build on yesterday's hard-fought foray into the black. Wall Street is encouraged this morning by U.S. retail sales, which surged 17.7% in May -- the biggest monthly jump on record -- easily beating analysts' anticipated 8% pop. Nasdaq-100 (NDX) and S&P 500 (SPX) futures are also set for outsized gains, amid a BBC report that the steroid Dexamethasone proved successful in early trials as a possible coronavirus treatment.

Elsewhere, U.S. President Trump's administration is drawing up a $1 trillion infrastructure proposal to add more stimulus to the economy, while later today investors will unpack remarks from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as part of his two-day semiannual testimony before the U.S. Congress.  

Continue reading for more on today's market, including: 

• Schaeffer's Senior V.P. of Research Todd Salamone breaks down why some investors are hitting the panic button.
• Teva stock could climb a little higher, boasts affordable options. 
  
• Plus, casino name makes a revenue announcement; AMZN using AI in warehouses; and Eli Lilly finds success in a treatment study. 

5 Things You Need to Know Today

1. The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1.4 million call contracts traded on Monday, compared to 723,401 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.51, and the 21-day moving average dropped to 0.49.
2. Caesar Entertainment Corp (NASDAQ:CZR) is up 3.8% ahead of the bell today, after disclosing changes in revenue for reopened regional properties, for the period they were operating in May and/or June through June 1. Despite boasting a 73.2% quarterly gain, CZR is down 5.5% in the last week.
3. Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) is up 1.5% in electronic trading, amid news that it enforces social distancing in its warehouses using artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The “Distance Assistant,” is designed to provide workers with real-time feedback on social distancing, and the company plans to open-source the software. For 2020 so far, the FAANG stock is up 39.2%.
4. The shares of Eli Lilly and Co (NYSE:LLY) are up 9% pre-market, after the drugmaker said its experimental breast cancer treatment Verzenio met its main goal in a late-stage study. This could be a welcome rally since LLY finished the last three days of trading in the red, including a 6.9% drop on June 11. However, Eli Lilly stock is still up 26.7% year-over-year.
5. Today will bring data on industrial production, and business inventories on tap, as well as the home builders' index. On the earnings docket for the day is Lennar (LEN) and Oracle (ORCL). 

Stocks rise in Asia, Europe

Stocks in Asia surged, paring losses they accrued yesterday, as investors reacted to various central bank announcements, including the U.S. Fed’s regarding the measures it will take to support the market. Most notably, the Fed said it would take a broader approach to the buying and purchasing of individual corporate bonds. South Korea’s Kospi rose 5.3%, amid reports that an inter-Korean liaison office in a border town was blown up by North Korea. Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei added 4.9%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 2.4%. Lastly, China’s Shanghai Composite tacked on 1.4%.

European stocks are building on their advances, rising for a second straight day, as they too reacted to the Fed’s latest announcement. Amid the Fed’s announcement regarding its intention to continue supporting the market, travel and leisure stocks climbed to lead sector gains across the pond. At last check, the German DAX was up 3.1%, while both London’s FTSE 100 and France’s CAC 40 were 2.7% higher.